A Modern Myth
by Stahlfan125
Summary: Rayanne tricks Angela into going to see Jordan play, and Angela's in for a little surprise. Postfinale. AngelaJordan


Okay, so yes A Modern Myth is a 30 Seconds to Mars song, but I figure it's okay because Jordan Catalano and Jared Leto are effectively the same person; as are Shane and Shannon Leto. And I did add lyrics on to the end of Red, but that was for romantic purposes.

Anyway, please review! I love reviews :D.

* * *

**A Modern Myth**

"Come _on _Angela, I don't care if you're all like heartbroken or whatever, you gotta come to this party!"

"I am _not _heartbroken," Angela said with annoyance, turning to face Rayanne as she cut up the lettuce for dinner. "I just don't really feel like going to any parties. Besides, I don't know if my mother will let me."

"Of course she'll let you. Just tell her you're staying over my house! It's not a big deal. It's a Friday night!"

"_Please_, Angela?" Rickie begged, pouting. "It's going to be fun!"

"Fine, all right," Angela consented, sighing. "I'll go! I'll ask my mom tonight."

"Okay," Rayanne said, satisfied. "We'll pick you up at, like, seven, okay?"

"Okay," Angela said, sighing.

"Great!" Rayanne exclaimed, running over to Angela and kissing her on the cheek. "See you then. Remember, don't take no for a answer."

"Yeah, okay," Angela said, shaking her head. Rickie kissed her on the cheek as well, and then the two of them were gone. Angela sighed and continued chopping up her lettuce, her happy smile gone and replaced with the dejected frown that was most present as of late. It had only been a week since she had broken up with Jordan Catalano, and she still wasn't sure if it was the right choice. Why had she even broken up with him anyway? Because of Brian? That made no sense. After all, she had no intention of _ever_ going out with Brian Krakow; she just didn't _like_ him in that way, and she wasn't going to pretend she did just because she and Jordan were over, or because he was the one who really wrote her that letter. Besides, she reasoned, Brian didn't really like _her_. He liked who she used to be, and she definitely wasn't that same person anymore.

She sighed and put the lettuce into the bowl, moving on to the cucumbers. She heard the door open and close, and after a few moments her mother walked in, smiling at her.

"Hi," she said pleasantly.

"Hi," Angela said with much less enthusiasm.

"You're making salad?" Patty asked with pleased surprise. "That's nice."

"I was bored," Angela said, turning and smiling at her mother. "And I like making salad."

"Well, I'm glad you did," Patty said. "So you got any plans for tonight?"

"Umm…actually, Rayanne invited me over, to sleep over," Angela lied calmly. "Is that okay?"

"Yeah, sure," Patty said, though she looked at Angela oddly. Angela knew that Amber had told Patty about what Rayanne and Jordan did; her mother probably didn't understand why Angela forgave her.

"Okay," Angela said, turning back to the cucumbers.

"So…" Patty said, leaning against the counter and taking a cucumber slice. "Have you been talking to that boy?"

"Which one?" Angela asked with a small smirk.

"Which one," Patty scoffed mockingly. "Brian."

"Eww, Brian?" Angela asked, looking at her mother in disgust. "Mom, I do _not _like Brian."

"Well now that you and Jordan are…over…I think you should find a nice boy…you know, like Brian."

"Me and Brian have _nothing _in common, mom!" Angela whined.

"Oh, and you and Jordan do?" Patty asked pointedly.

"More than me and Brian," Angela retorted, scoffing.

"Honey, I'm just trying to say that maybe you should think with your heart and not your eyes. Jordan wasn't your type. He seemed too…oh, I don't know…emotionally detached from everything."

"Well yeah, but there's a reason for that," Angela said, rolling her eyes.

"Of course there is," Patty said, rolling her eyes as well.

"Mom!" Angela exclaimed. "Stop acting like I'm, like, pathetic or something. I just found out from Rayanne that there's, like, a reason he's all…I don't know, what you said. 'Emotionally detached'."

"I'm not acting like you're _pathetic_," Patty insisted. "I'm just saying, you keep making all these excuses for this kid…and look what he did to you! You don't have to make excuses for him, Angela."

"Mom, his parents, like, abuse him," Angela said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And they have for like…ever. It's not like it's his fault or anything."

Patty looked at her daughter with an expression somewhat like shock.

"They _abuse_ him?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah, like…they hit him and…stuff," Angela said vaguely. "He came into school the other day with this huge bruise or whatever…I guess he went home and his dad got drunk or something. I don't know, I didn't talk to him or anything. Rayanne did."

"I guess that would explain it," Patty said, sounding reluctantly accepting. "Why doesn't he get help?"

"Mom, I don't think you get it," Angela said. "Can you imagine me having to do that to you? He probably, like loves his dad or something. I don't _know_. Can we just stop talking about him? God!"

She slammed the knife down on the counter and walked away angrily, stomping up the stairs to her room. Patty sighed and put her hand to her head, closing her eyes briefly and smiling in that way when she was just determined for some reason to smile despite the fact that there was nothing to smile about. Angela had always hated when she did that.

Graham walked into the kitchen, looking around.

"No sign of a struggle," he said thoughtfully. Patty glared at him.

"You know, you could have come in," she said. "Helped out a little."

"What, and get myself killed? You know I would have just made it worse. It's well known that I don't have a great love for that Jordan kid."

"I know," Patty said, sighing. "Neither do I. But Angela obviously feels very strongly about him."

"He was her first love," Graham said, shrugging as if it wasn't that big of a deal. "You remember your first love, don't you? You know you still have slight feelings for them. I know I do."

"What?" Patty asked incredulously. Graham sighed.

"Patty," he said. "She's a kid. And when you're a kid, you tend to blow things out of proportion. That's why a lot of people still have feelings for their first love. I mean, apparently you don't, but a lot of people do."

"That is _so _far from the point," Patty said, sighing.

"You sound like _her_," Graham said, mock-shuddering and taking a sip of his coffee.

"Oh, I do _not _sound like _her_," Patty said, sounding deeply offended. "I'm just saying, I don't think she _loved _him, so he can't be her first _love_."

"What makes you say she didn't love him?" Graham asked curiously, squinting at her as if he wasn't quite able to see her.

"I don't know," Patty sighed. "She just…she's only fifteen, Graham…how can she be in love?"

"Didn't you think you were in love when you were fifteen?" Graham asked. "And don't tell me you didn't, because I know you did."

"All right, yes, I'll admit it, I did think I was in love back then. But that was different."

Graham laughed and leaned against the counter.

"You sound like your father," he said. "Everything was always different for him…he couldn't accept that what teenagers went through in his day and what they went through in ours was pretty much the same thing, once you really get down to it. And now _you _can't accept that what we went through and what she's going through are pretty much the same thing."

Patty sighed and ran a hand through her short hair, shaking her head.

"I know," she said reluctantly. "I just…I don't want her to _have _to go through it. I wish there was a way you could help them completely skip over these years in their lives, you know? So they wouldn't have to deal with it."

"I know," Graham said, walking over to Patty and wrapping his arms around her gently. "But in the end, she'll turn out all right, just like we did."

Patty sighed and rested her head against his chest.

"I hope so," she said quietly. He smiled into her hair.

"She will," he said with assurance. "She will."

* * *

That night, Angela stood outside her house, waiting for Rayanne and Rickie to pick her up. Brian was across the street, sitting in his stupid tree, reading his stupid book, pretending that he _wasn't_ staring at her in that creepy way that he always did.

Angela wanted to say something to him, something along the lines of 'stop staring at me you pervert', but she didn't want to give him an excuse to talk to her. Because she didn't want to talk to him. Like, at all. In fact it was probably the thing she wanted least in the world. Next to dying or something.

She heard a car approaching, and both she and Brian watched the headlights drive right past her house. She sighed and sat down on the front steps, putting her head in her hands. She could hear leaves rustling, and groaned inwardly. Brian was getting out of his tree. Perfect.

Perfect, in fact, was closer to the truth, since at that moment, the car pulled up, and Rayanne was waving at her like crazy.

"Come on!" she exclaimed. "Let's go!"

Angela glanced at Brian, who was standing there like she had just blown him off or something, and she walked over to the car swiftly, getting in and closing the door. She turned around and looked out the back window. He was watching her, looking at her like it was the first time he ever really saw her.

Angela turned back around to face the front.

"Thanks," she said, snorting. Rayanne laughed.

"_No_ problem," she said. "I'm glad we could save you from the pleasure of being hit on by Krakow 'til your ears start bleeding. Personally, I'd like to think you'd do the same."

"Definitely," Angela laughed, and soon Brian Krakow was forgotten as they drove off towards the party.

* * *

They arrived at the party a few minutes later, just as one of the bands was getting off the stage. Angela, Rayanne, and Rickie moved along through the crowd towards the front.

"Come on, come on!" Rayanne said eagerly.

"You didn't say this was going to be a concert, Rayanne," Angela said with some evident annoyance.

"It's not a concert," Rayanne said defensively. "It's a party with live music!"

Rickie rolled his eyes behind Rayanne's back, and Angela laughed.

"Who's playing?" Angela asked. "Anyone we know?"

"I think Reggie's band is playing," Rayanne said thoughtfully. "And I know Bill Dawson is." She glanced at the stage. "Oh…and Catalano."

Angela and Rickie both gasped.

"What?" they both asked in unison. Rayanne shrugged.

"What, I didn't mention it?" she asked innocently. Angela looked up at the stage, where Jordan and Shane and the other two band members were standing, setting up.

"Oh my _God_," Angela said, turning around and facing the other direction so she didn't have to look at him. Because she knew if she looked at him too much, she was going to want to, like, hug him or something. And she couldn't let that happen. "Did you do this on purpose or something?" she asked Rayanne angrily.

"No!" Rayanne exclaimed in a tone that clearly said that she was lying. Angela glared at her. "Okay, maybe…but it was for good purposes, trust me."

"What do you mean?" Angela asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"Okay," Rayanne said. "So I was walking down the hallway yesterday and…"

Rayanne never got to finish her sentence, because the band started playing without introduction. Angela turned to face them, and saw that Jordan was staring right at her as he played his guitar.

"I was going nowhere," he sang, right to her. "Going nowhere fast. Drowning in my memories; living in the past. Everything looked black 'til I found her. She's all I need and that's what I said. I call her Red."

"Oh, _God_," Angela said, turning around again and trying to walk past Rayanne and Ricky away from the stage. Rayanne blocked her way. "Rayanne!"

"She's my shelter from the storm. She's a place to rest my head. Late at night she keeps me safe and warm. I call her Red. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I call her Red. Yeah, yeah, yeah."

"Rayanne, come on," Angela said, trying to walk away. Rayanne and Rickie shot each other panicked glances, and Rayanne wrapped her arms around Angela's arms and practically tackled her to the ground

"No!" she exclaimed wildly.

"She was always with me. With me to the last. Loved me more than anyone. I fell in love so fast." Angela stopped fighting and looked incredulously at Jordan.

"He's in love with his _car_," she said as if it were the most pathetic thing she had ever heard. And, truthfully, it was.

"Just _listen_," Rayanne said eagerly.

"Everything was black 'til I found her. I wanna be her everything. I call her Red. She's the one who gave me up. She's the one I miss so bad…I call her Red."

Angela stared at Jordan, and he stared back, not missing a beat. His gorgeous blue eyes stared into hers, and she found it impossible to look away, though her mind was urging her to walk away and get out of there before she did something stupid. Like, fall in love with him. Again.

The band stopped playing, and Angela turned to Rayanne and Rickie, who were smiling at her expectantly.

"It doesn't change anything," Angela said sadly, trying to walk away. Rayanne and Rickie looked helplessly at Jordan. He looked panicked for a moment, and looked around at the band, then sighed heavily, resigning himself to something.

"This next song," he began, prompting Angela to stop walking, though she didn't turn around. "This next song is for a girl who…who I have to say goodbye to." Angela did turn around this time. "Umm…I love her."

He sounded uncomfortable saying it, as if he expected everyone to make fun of him, but none of his bandmates said anything. They just nodded.

"What are you doing?" Angela whispered, though she knew he couldn't hear her.

"It's called…um…A Modern Myth," Jordan said awkwardly. He sighed and sat down on his stool, beginning to play the song, strumming on his guitar with a sad expression, his eyes fixed on Angela's. She found that she couldn't look away. "Did we create a modern myth? Did we imagine half of it would happen in a thought from now? Save yourself. Save yourself. The secret is out. The secret is out."

The song was sad and mournful, and like nothing that Angela thought Jordan was capable of writing. Rayanne raised a lighter into the air and began to wave it back and forth, giggling giddily. One by one, people all around Angela started following her example as Jordan stared at Angela and continued singing.

"Oh my God," Angela said to Rayanne, exasperated. Ryan Burton, the last person you'd expect to see at a party (maybe even less than Brian Krakow) stood on stage beside Jordan and played the violin, making the song even more mournful and depressing and utterly touching.

"To buy the truth and sell a lie. The last mistake before you die. So don't forget to breathe tonight. Tonight's the last so say goodbye. The secret is out. The secret is out. The secret is out. The secret is out. Goodbye."

Angela felt tears brimming in her eyes as Jordan sang the first goodbye, drawing it out.

"Goodbye," he continued, and the audience began to sing with him. "Goodbye." As Jordan continued to sing his goodbyes to Angela, he began to get more and more animated. "Goodbye." He became more and more loud and emotional in a way that Angela never thought was possible for him. "Goodbye." Rayanne was jumping up and down, screaming goodbyes at the top of her lungs. "Goodbye." Sharon was crying, deep in the crowd. "Goodbye." Rickie was smiling brightly. "Goodbye." Angela felt tears creeping to her eyes. "Goodbye." Shane was sitting at his drums, singing as well since he had nothing else to do. "Goodbye." Jordan was really getting louder now. "Goodbye." With each goodbye he increased in volume until he was practically screaming into the microphone. "Goodbye." The lighters were going up all over the place, and the entire crowd was swaying to the music, yelling goodbyes. "Goodbye." Angela was practically sobbing now. "Goodbye." She wasn't sure of what to think. "Goodbye." She stared into Jordan's eyes with a passion she didn't know she had. "Goodbye." The last goodbye started out as the loudest, but then it tapered off into a quiet one. His voice lowered to a husky whisper. "Goodbye."

The crowd went wild, cheering and screaming Jordan's name and jumping up and down. Jordan just stood up, nodded his head slightly to the crowd, and walked off, followed by Shane and the other two band mates. Angela fought her way through the screaming mob, trying to get to Jordan.

"Jordan!" she yelled, not really expecting him to hear her. But he turned towards her anyway, and their eyes locked once again. It was one of those moments when all time seemed to stop, and it was just the two of them staring at each other as the crowd cheered on the next band, already forgetting about Jordan's soulful performance. Angela rushed through the crowd, pushing through everyone to get to him. Jordan put down his guitar and opened his arms just in time for her to leap into them and kiss him. The crowd started cheering for the next band, but to Jordan and Angela, it was like they were cheering for them.

Across the crowd, Rayanne and Rickie watched with ecstatic faces, hugging each other excitedly.

"I _told_ you I'd do it!" Rayanne exclaimed.

"Hun, it wasn't _you _who did it," Rickie said, looking pointedly at Jordan. "I think he finally understands what Angela means to him. I think he finally realized that he loves her and he needs her."

Rayanne watched Jordan and Angela kissing, and she shrugged.

"Whatever," she said. "I still think I did it."

She turned and flounced into the crowd. Rickie watched Jordan and Angela for another moment before he too turned and walked away, leaving Jordan and Angela in their own little world, as they fell in love all over again.


End file.
